Gardens
The DGES garden program strives to serve children in four specific ways. First, the garden is an environment for facilitating learning. This is done not in a traditional pen and paper and book manner, but rather by giving children the chance to experience and explore first hand. The garden by its very nature fosters curiosity and provokes questions. “What is this?” “Why is this plant dying?” “What would happen if…” We believe strongly in a model of inquiry based learning. What this means is that instead of telling children what it is that they should know, we use their own questions as a guide for what we do. We guide them as they learn to examine their own questions and to formulate their own answers, thereby developing their higher level skills for reasoning and thought.
Second, the garden is a place for building community. When children and families come together in order to build a garden, grow food, and to prepare and share meals, a special bond is created. Children begin to understand that when we are all able to contribute to the community, we foster respect and understanding that goes beyond race, gender, age, and social status.
Thirdly, the garden can promote better health and eating habits. In America today, anywhere from 16 to 33 percent of children and adolescents are obese. (The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2009) Some of the causes of childhood obesity are poor eating habits, a sedentary life style, and low self esteem. The garden is the perfect place to address many of these lessons. In the garden, children are exposed to a wide variety of healthy fresh foods. They learn the value of work, and experience the rewards of a job well done.
And finally, the garden can be a place for personal transformation. Gardens have long been used as places for personal meditation and reflection by many cultures around the world. When given a place in which they can commune with nature, children have the opportunity to relax and reflect, and to see the world in a new way. They have a chance to experience the natural beauty of the world, they are able to see creation in all of it natural fluidity, and given the opportunity to marvel at its wonder.
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2009, Obesity In Children And Teens retrieved October 25, 2009, from http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/obesity_in_children_and_teens
